Texts
The ''Qingjing jing'' is a short, mostly-versified text comprising some 390 Chinese characters in 90 verses. It is widely read and has numerous commentaries.
Although the first ''Qingjing jing'' line quotes the legendary Laozi, with the Taishang Laozhun 太上老君 "The Most High Lord Lao" , scholars believe the received text dates from around the middle Tang Dynasty .
The oldest extant commentary is by Du Guangting 杜光庭 , a prolific editor of Daoist texts during the late Tang and Five Dynasties period. Du says prior to being written down by Ge Xuan , the ''Qingjing jing'' was orally transmitted for generations, supposedly going back to the mythical Queen Mother of the West.
The ''Daozang'' "Daoist Canon" includes eight editions of the ''Qingjing jing'' with variant titles. The ''Qingjing miaojing'' 清靜妙經 "Wondrous Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence", or ''Taishang Laojun shuo chang qingjing miaojing'' 太上老君說常清靜妙經 "Wondrous Scripture of Constant Clarity and Quiescence, as Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao", is the basic text . Commentaries include those entitled ''Qingjing jingzhu'' 清靜經注 and ''Qingjing jing songzhu'' 清靜經頌注 .
A slightly longer version of approximately 600 characters is the ''Qingjing xinjing'' 清靜心經 "Heart Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence", or ''Taishang Laojun qingjing xinjing'' 太上老君清靜心經 "Heart Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence, as Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao" .
During the Song Dynasty , the ''Qingjing jing'' became popular within the Southern Lineage "Complete Perfection" or Quanzhen School and was interpreted in context with ''neidan'' Chinese internal alchemy. Modern Quanzhen Daoists consider the ''Qingjing jing'' a central scripture and regularly chant it in ''songjing'' 誦經 "reciting scriptural passages; ritual recitation". Kohn explains.
The text serves to inspire the active practitioner and believer. It provides an easy handle on the realization of the Tao within the religious life. It is an exhortation to purity and meditation, a warning against bad thoughts and deviant desires. Pious Taoists know this short and rhythmic text by heart.
Contents
Although brief, the ''Qingjing jing'' is philosophically complex. It synthesizes Daoist and Buddhist theories of psychology, cosmology, ontology, and teleology.
The ''Qingjing jing'' is described by Komjathy.
An anonymous text probably dating from the 9th century, this is one of a group of Tang-dynasty works that could be labeled "Clarity-and-Stillness" literature. Emerging under the influence of Buddhist insight meditation and expressing a form of wisdom based on the practice of observation , the text combines the worldview of the ''Daode jing'' 道德經 with the practice of Daoist observation and the structure of the Buddhist ''Panruo xinjing'' 般若心經 . It emphasizes the dual cultivation of clarity/purity and "stillness/tranquility" .
These Daoist keywords are ''guan'' "scrutiny; careful observation; insight meditation; contemplation", ''qing'' "clarity; purity; cleanliness", and ''jing'' "stillness; quiet; calm; tranquility". The ''Daodejing'' is the locus classicus for ''qingjing'': "Bustling about vanquishes cold, Standing still vanquishes heat. Pure and still, one can put things right everywhere under heaven."
Kohn summarizes the ''Qingjing jing''.
The text first describes the nature of the Dao as divided into Yin and Yang, clear and turbid , moving and quiescent , and stresses the importance of the mind in the creation of desires and worldly entanglements. It recommends the practice of observation to counteract this, i.e., the observation of other beings, the self, and the mind, which results in the realization that none of these really exists. The practitioner has reached the observation of emptiness . The latter part of the work reverses direction and outlines the decline from pure spirit to falling into hell: spirit develops consciousness or mind , and mind develops greed and attachment toward the myriad beings. Greed then leads to involvement, illusory imagining, and erroneous ways, which trap beings in the chain of rebirth and, and they sink deeper into the quagmire of desire, causes them to fall into hell.
Translations
The ''Qingjing jing'' has been translated into English by Balfour , Legge , and Kohn . Wong translated the Shuijingzi 水精子 commentary.
Comparing translations of the first two sections illustrates how Daoist studies have advanced in a century.
''The Words of Lao Chün''. Although the Great Principle of Nature – TAO – has no form, it brought forth and nourishes Heaven and Earth; though it has no passions, it causes the Sun and Moon to revolve; though it has no name, it produces the growth and nurture of all things. As I do not know its name, I am compelled to call it simply TAO.
Now this Principle includes the pure and the turbid, the active and the motionless. For instance, Heaven is pure and Earth turbid; Heaven moves and the Earth is still. The Masculine is pure, the feminine turbid; the Masculine is active and the Feminine at rest. Emerging from its source and flowing on to all its developments, it produced the visible creation. The pure is the origin of the turbid, and the active of the motionless. If a man is able to remain permanently pure and motionless, Heaven and Earth will both at once come and dwell in him.
Ch. 1. 1. L?o the Master 1 said, The Great T?o has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth. The Great T?o has no passions, but It causes the sun and moon to revolve as they do. The Great T?o has no name, but It effects the growth and maintenance of all things. I do not know its name, but I make an effort, and call It the T?o.
2. Now, the T?o ; the Pure and the Turbid, and has Motion and Rest. Heaven is pure and earth is turbid; heaven moves and earth is at rest. The masculine is pure and the feminine is turbid; the masculine moves and the feminine is still. The radical descended, and the issue flowed abroad; and thus all things were produced. The pure is the source of the turbid, and motion is the foundation of rest. If man could always be pure and still, heaven and earth would both revert .
The Great Tao has no form; It brings forth and raises heaven and earth. The Great Tao has no feelings; It regulates the course of the sun and the moon. The Great Tao has no name; It raises and nourishes the myriad beings. I do not know its name – So I call it Tao.
The Tao can be pure or turbid; moving or tranquil. Heaven is pure, earth is turbid; Heaven is moving, earth is tranquil. The male is moving, the female is tranquil. Descending from the origin, Flowing toward the end, The myriad beings are being born. Purity – the source of turbidity, Movement – the root of tranquility. Always be pure and tranquil; Heaven and earth Return to the primordial.
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